Emily Osmond is an Melbourne-based marketing mentor and interior design enthusiast. She specialises in helping service-based business owners to book out with clients, and scale with online programs.
Tell us about the process of building a house from the floor up.
A: There are five key steps to building a home:
1. The big decision - Purchasing a property or deciding to re-build on a property you already own.
2. Designing the new house - This is when you will engage professionals such as an architect, interior designer, and engineer to help bring your ideas to life.
3. Obtaining approval - When your plans are ready, it’s time to obtain approvals. This includes your building and planning permits (if required).
4. Selecting your builder - Tender the build and select your preferred builder. Alternatively, select a builder at the beginning of the process who also provides a design service so that you can work with them on managing both the design and approvals of the project.
5. Time to start building!
For ‘The Bellfield Build’, steps two to five took us approximately 18 months. We needed to obtain a planning permit for our build, which can add six to nine months to the process – so be sure to factor in additional time if a planning permit is required.
Something that can be easy to underestimate when building a home, is the time needed for the development of plans. If you’re building more than one property on a site, you will need to allow several months in your planning process to obtain council approval for your plans.
To avoid major changes, we also like to start discussions with our builder early in the process. This will help prevent extra rounds of council approvals being needed.
How early in the process did you begin making key interior design decisions, such as flooring and carpet selections?
A: For the major interior design decisions, like the carpet and flooring, I started exploring our options very early on. I wanted to understand what was available in the market, and what products practically and aesthetically would suit our home and vision. This meant we were prepared when it came to ordering our carpet and engineered timber flooring from Carpet Court, avoiding any delays that would hold up our project in the process. In the end, we opted for Carpet Court’s Far North in Jardine and Florence Oak in Iluka.
How long did the flooring installation process take with Carpet Court?
A: The flooring installation process only took a matter of days, with Carpet Court’s installation team working seamlessly with our builder’s schedule.
What are the three biggest lessons that you learnt from designing and building your first home?
A:
1. Don’t rush the flooring plan. The flooring plan is such a key part of the way the home feels, and how practical and enjoyable it will be to live in.
2. There are endless options when it comes to finishes. Once you have made a well thought out decision, don’t question it and doubt yourself, or you will keep stalling on your progress.
3. Don’t forget to consider the landscaping. You don’t want to have a beautiful, completed home, with then months ahead of you to organise the landscaping. To ease the process, speak with a specialist who can help save you time and create a great landscaping plan for your home.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone undertaking their first home build?
A: To reduce stress, allow for delays, expect issues to arise and have a contingency budget. Then, when these things come up, know that you have planned for them, that they are normal, and enjoy the process!
Image Credits:
Home: @emilyosmond
Builder: @goldlineconstructions
Interior Design Consultant: @whitewith1
Interior Styling Consultant: @kirstinkdesignco
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